From Jay On Software
Everyone knows the routine, get to work by 9 AM, sit in front of the computer, code all day, and head home at 5. Now, thanks to guys like Tim Ferris I have started to re-think how I work and what makes me productive as a software developer.
Recently, I made some big changes to my Monday to Friday schedule. For a long time, I did things just like all of the other coders I know. But during the second half of 2011, I started experimenting to see what type of daily schedule makes me most productive.
I love detailed schedule posts like this, and I think there is a lot to like about this schedule.
The main takeaway I get from it is the four hour programming block. I always knew (or assumed) that blocks of 100% programming, with no interruptions whatsoever, would be helpful to development. I never really realized how true that really was until I started experimenting with the Pomodoro technique. This basically involves making time slices of 25 minutes where you work on a single task, without interruption.
So I made a macro using the wonderful Keyboard Maestro app which takes my email offline, quits twitter, and sets my IM status to Away. And I get an amazing amount of work done in those time periods.
